Manmohan fails to visit 'ailing' neighbours

Last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked of having breakfast in New Delhi, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Kabul as a way to show his keenness to foster closer ties with the neighbouring countries.

Yet, in his three years in office, apart from a stopover at Bangladesh and a brief visit to Afghanistan, he hasn't visited a single neighbouring country.

The reason: India's neighbours are going through political turmoil. Sources in the PMO said although attempts were made for arranging a visit to both Pakistan and Nepal, the continuing turmoil in these countries came in the way.

"There was a proposal that the prime minister would visit Islamabad, a long-due visit, at the end of the year, but the judicial crisis and the Karachi incident pushed this to the backburner," said a source in the PMO.

The Nepal visit did not come to fruition since elections were still to take place in the Himalayam kingdom. "We have been waiting for the elections to happen," said the source.

Sri Lanka, according to sources, is out of bounds for the prime minister because of security concerns. The last time an Indian prime minister visited the country (Rajiv Gandhi in 1987), an attempt on his life was made. "With recent air attacks by the LTTE, and the heavy fighting, the situation is not right for a visit," said the source.

The prime minister has invitations from all the neighbouring countries, but it is ironic that although he has visited the US and distant European capitals, his own neighbourhood appears a thousand miles away.